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[Noel Berry]

Update: Check last post for the most recent info+screenshots

Well, it seems like a lot of people are making a concept/design thread for their up coming awesome games, so I thought I would make one about a platformer I am currently developing.

Anyways, the platformer I am currently developing is basically about a ghost. Except, he's not quite dead yet. See, he's a "Somewhat Dead Thing".

(All graphics still WIP...)


Since you aren't really alive, or dead, you cannot die, or be brought back to life. If enemies attack and kill you, or you happen upon a giant pile of spikes, then you just turn to mist, and float away, but your still not dead. You just fall apart, in a way....

The goal in the game is to find your body so that you CAN properly die. The problem with this, though, is the world is very BIG... (Well, I'm hoping it will be).

Lastly, the evil guy, that all games must have (well, not really, but this one does have one) is a ghost hunter, in a way. He has high tech weapons to hunt "Somewhat Dead Things", as he thinks any creatures that aren't dead OR alive are unnatural (which, I guess is somewhat true).

So, between avoiding other "Somewhat Dead Things", and the hunter, I'm hoping the game can become and interesting platform adventure/exploration game...



Lastly, your player WILL be able to get some kinds of different "weapons". They aren't weapons exactly, but more like little spells he can learn to help him throughout the game, solving puzzles and/or fighting off other creatures.


So, what do peoples think of the basic outline/idea of the game... ?

[increpare]

what happens when you turn to mist?

[Noel Berry]

Well, in normal platformers, it's equivalent to dying, kinda. You don't actually DIE, but you cannot really play anymore, and therefor will go back to where you last saved. It's really more a part of the story, then an actual game play mechanic.

The goal in the game is to actually die, but by turning into mist you will never be able to actually die, and will have to just wait out forever...

[AndyWiltshireBPA]

This concept of 'not quite dead' is where you should be puting all your focus, and develop it as the primary game element.

The character isnt dead, nor alive, somewhere in between, so how does this affect interaction with the rest of the world and characters?

Can he switch between different 'states'?

Do some level puzzles require you to be more dead then alive?

Can some enemies only be overcome in one 'state'?

I know there has been games where you switch between life and death and there is two parallel dimensions to the game levels, so how can you feed of those ideas, but maintain the 'inbetween' concept?

Good luck, the game has potential, just don't forget to really work on what is going to make the game unique.

[Xion]

What Andy said.

Damn man how many Andys do we have here now?

[The-Imp]

I'd LIKE to say 3... That's about all I know.

And yeah, Andy pretty much nailed my suggestions.
 

[michael]

4, probably 5

[Noel Berry]

OK, thanks guys.

AndyWiltshireNZ, before continuing on the game more, I will consider my options... I have exams coming up, so they will interfere with the progress on the game, but I should be able to come up with some things, off of your suggestions.

I'm really liking the different 'state' ideas. I need to figure out how you would switch between the different states (perhaps 3 different ones, dead, between, and alive). I don't want the player to be able to easily switch between different states, as that would somewhat ruin the whole idea of it.

[AndyWiltshireBPA]

State switching could require 'activators' placed throughout the levels...

Your first task is to come up with a good name for the 'inbetween' state, then you can use that as a basis for your game name, style, story and so on...

Edit: Just thinking about it, I guess a Ghost is 'inbetween' ... duh..

[aeiowu]

looks like a neat palette. but...

i'd say off the bat though that i have no idea where the character would collide with the terrain. are the dark "hills" in the background or not? since they are darker and provide more contrast with the overall background color it seems that they would be more likely to be the terrain than what i'm thinking you intended the terrain to be.

good news is, it should be a easy fix.

[The-Imp]

Along with what Aeiowu said, and make it less saturated, it should look almost like it's blending with the background.

[Chris Whitman]

Gray is pretty much as desaturated as you can get!

However, it is a bit confusing that elements of the background are both lighter and darker than the foreground.

[Noel Berry]

Andy, yeah, that makes sense. I'm not sure if I want things throughout the level that changes you...

aeiowu, I Like Cake, and Imp. I will mess around with the colors a bit and see if I can make them look a bit better...
The collision with the terrain is pretty easy to tell when actually playing.



EDIT: I modified the background forest color thing, and changed them to a blue-ish color, to fit a bit better with the background.



But, I found that I really couldn't see the ground very well with that mix, so I darkened it a bit, and brought up the saturation a little bit:



Is this looking better? Or, does it still need to be changed a bit?
I also plan on adding more background and foreground things in the future, such as rocks and dead trees, etc.


I'm really more of a programmer, then a graphical designer, so any help is appreciated

[AndyWiltshireBPA]

I think your heading in the right direction Drazzke. Having a color separation is a good way to determine interactive and static elements.

Simply take a look at other quality platformers and study how they determine between background, midground and foreground.

I wonder if the fact the ghost is almost the same color as the background confuses things...? Might take some consideration...

[Chris Whitman]

I think the ghost is pretty easy to see because of the outline, actually.

[Noel Berry]

I made a small-ish update. Not sure if I like it, but I think it looks better.

Currently, I am pretty happy with the Ghost, I don't think I will be changing it as of now.



I'll keep posting updates as I change things.

[AndyWiltshireBPA]

Obviously 'level of detail' helps to define what the player can interact with. So adding that second level of grass does help define it from the static backgrounds.

Excuse me for blabbing, Im just very interested in the details of design...

What type of environments does this ghost inhabit? Is this an earthly planet? Particular time period? Medieval/Fantasy? Alien? Prehistoric?

[Noel Berry]

I was planning it to be very forest-ish, with no real world set in mind (it could be Earth, but doesn't have to be).

I think the game will be slightly high tech. There will be machines (in fact, the first big enemy you encounter is a robot).

Tomorrow (or tonight, depending how late I decide to stay up! ) I'll write a page or two explaining the general overview of the game, which should answer a lot of these questions.

But, yes, a forest like place, with a few caverns and mountains. I am trying to make the game feel as if you are looking at the world from a Ghosts perspective, which, in my opinion, would be somewhat gloomy.
There are machines, but you don't really encounter that much. There won't be any cars, or spaceships, etc, but you, as I already stated, will meet a few robots, and such.

And, honestly, I really don't mind you 'babbling'. It's actually really helping me figure out more about the game. I thought I had a pretty good idea down, but apparently I don't.

[AndyWiltshireBPA]

Sounds cool. Being from a ghosts perspective I would like to see buried skeletons or bones in the foreground (under where the ghosts hovers/walks), and maybe unnatural aura's around supernatural objects etc...

[Noel Berry]

That's a good idea. Aura's around special objects could play as a pretty big game mechanic too...

Anyways, I'll be making a mini design document here, tomorrow at some point: http://drazzke.com/Ghost%20Walk/index.php